{ "id": "R41987", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R41987", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 588292, "date": "2016-06-15", "retrieved": "2020-01-02T15:44:08.569766", "title": "Social Media for Emergencies and Disasters: Overview and Policy Considerations", "summary": "Since the mid-1990s, new technologies have emerged that allow people to interact and share information through the Internet. Often called \u201csocial media,\u201d these platforms enable people to connect in ways that were non-existent, or widely unavailable 15 years ago. Examples of social media include blogs, chat rooms, discussion forums, wikis, YouTube channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Social media can be accessed by computers, tablets, smart and cellular telephones, and mobile telephone text messaging (SMS).\nIn recent years social media has played an increasing role in emergencies and disasters. Social media sites now rank as the fourth most popular source to access emergency information. They have been used by individuals and communities to warn others of unsafe areas or situations, inform friends and family that someone is safe, and raise funds for disaster relief. Facebook supports numerous emergency-related organizations, including Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM), the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Project, as well as numerous universities with disaster-related academic programs. \nThe use of social media for emergencies and disasters may be conceptualized as two broad categories. First, social media can be used as an output to disseminate information and issue warnings. Second, it can be used as an emergency management tool through the systematic use of inputs (typically through incoming communication). Examples of systematic usage of social media include using the medium to conduct emergency communications; using social media to receive victim requests for assistance; monitoring user activities to establish situational awareness; and using uploaded images to create damage estimates; conduct investigations; monitor search queries to anticipate flu outbreaks and detect terrorist activity; among others. Federal entities, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, use social media in both manners, although primarily as an output to disseminate information.\nRecent stories and reports describing how a wide range of international, state, and local organizations have successfully used social media during emergencies and disasters have spurred congressional interest and discussion about how to harness social media capabilities to improve federal response and recovery efforts. Based on these favorable stories and reports, some may argue that the federal government should take the lead in developing social media as a tool for emergencies and disasters. \nOthers might argue that it would be difficult for the federal government to replicate state and local success because the decentralized nature of social media may make the medium too unwieldy for large, centralized organizations to control in a manner similar to smaller organizations or emergent groups. They may, therefore, argue it would be more appropriate for state and local governments to take the lead with the federal government playing a supporting role. If that is the case, Congress could, for example, provide grants to further its development at the state and local level. Congress could also explore policy options that could enhance social media usage at the state and local level. These policy options include public-private partnerships, and social media pilot programs. \nThis report provides selected examples of how social media has been used by emergency management officials and agencies, and examines the potential uses and benefits of using social media in the context of emergencies and disasters. The report also provides additional perspectives and reviews some of the policy implications of using social media for emergencies and disasters. These include\nthe use of social media to make individual requests for assistance;\nthe use of private-public partnerships to develop social media tools for emergencies and disasters;\nthe accuracy of social media information and the challenge of information overload;\nmalicious use of social media during disasters;\nthe technological implications of social media;\nadministrative costs considerations; and\nprivacy concerns.\nThis report will be updated as events warrant.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41987", "sha1": "08105938099d75885388f0b3cb7d3b1d754f0877", "filename": "files/20160615_R41987_08105938099d75885388f0b3cb7d3b1d754f0877.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/7.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_5443ee027670d0d9e6e57829c92f6a13b676cd0d.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/6.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_40b23442275bd42f67e22d9bcb274d264427c3c3.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/3.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_085eb3b6faaeb0cd6b54f22e750f293599df57b7.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/2.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_7bc52a11a393fa4a76f77a975ef2ade7cec41704.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/1.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_0f5712416d3519f26460178185dedcbf37fc1f8e.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/4.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_c94f532e6705530a26008ca8005188304d53cb09.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/5.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_62fe2bcffb2bd9264b76adc62d30f5f41039d598.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/8.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_ddcb670c735398292e6eec1d853b22545f4dd160.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R41987_files&id=/0.png": "files/20160615_R41987_images_6b1c00d549df249ad2f78f7f022fa02028ebc56b.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41987", "sha1": "61267549cfb691e8759b47aa70280950f3139210", "filename": "files/20160615_R41987_61267549cfb691e8759b47aa70280950f3139210.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 413445, "date": "2011-09-06", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:34:21.341723", "title": "Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations", "summary": "The development of new technologies that have emerged since the mid-1990s has led to Internet-based applications known as \u201csocial media\u201d that enable people to interact and share information through media that were non-existent or widely unavailable 15 years ago. Examples of social media include blogs, chat rooms, discussion forums, wikis, YouTube Channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Social media can be accessed by computer, tablets, smart and cellular phones, and mobile phone text messaging (SMS).\nIn the last five years social media have played an increasing role in emergencies and disasters. Social media sites rank as the fourth most popular source to access emergency information. They have been used by individuals and communities to warn others of unsafe areas or situations, inform friends and family that someone is safe, and raise funds for disaster relief. Facebook supports numerous emergency-related organizations, including Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM), The Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Project, as well as numerous universities with disaster-related programs. \nThe use of social media for emergencies and disasters may be conceptualized as two broad categories. First, social media can be used somewhat passively to disseminate information and receive user feedback via incoming messages, wall posts, and polls. To date, this is how most emergency management organizations, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), use social media. \nA second approach involves the systematic use of social media as an emergency management tool. Systematic usage might include using the medium to conduct emergency communications and issue warnings; using social media to receive victim requests for assistance; monitoring user activities to establish situational awareness; and using uploaded images to create damage estimates, among others. Many of these applications remain speculative, while other uses are still in their infancy. Consequently, most emergency management organizations have confined their use of social media to the dissemination of information.\nHowever, recent stories and reports describing how a wide range of international, state, and local organizations have successfully used social media during emergencies and disasters have spurred congressional interest and discussion concerning how social media might be used to improve federal response and recovery capabilities.\nThis report summarizes how social media have been used by emergency management officials and agencies. It also examines the potential benefits, as well as the implications, of using social media in the context of emergencies and disasters. \nThis report will be updated as events warrant.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41987", "sha1": "d8f6cf4beb8b81055eb66235be09dfc89409acda", "filename": "files/20110906_R41987_d8f6cf4beb8b81055eb66235be09dfc89409acda.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41987", "sha1": "b5c5f331a39f5ab2c9ad4fa3295e590bede55acd", "filename": "files/20110906_R41987_b5c5f331a39f5ab2c9ad4fa3295e590bede55acd.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "American Law", "Economic Policy", "Foreign Affairs", "National Defense" ] }